March 25, 2020

The Trump campaign are big babies, like Fat Head himself. But they know if any of this criticism sticks with Trump's cult-like base he's toast in November. That's why they're calling out the lawyers.

Source: Bloomberg

The Trump campaign asked TV stations in swing states to take down an ad featuring the president calling coronavirus a “hoax” that his allies say is misleading.

The ad from Priorities USA shows the curve of U.S. cases growing from Jan. 20 to March 22 while featuring audio of Trump downplaying the threat during that time. “The coronavirus,” Trump says at the beginning, before a second clip plays, “this is their new hoax.”

The Trump campaign says the president was describing Democrats’ efforts to politicize the coronavirus, not calling the virus itself a hoax.

Fact-checkers at the Washington Post called a similar ad from the Biden campaign misleading, noting that the full comments from Trump at a campaign rally compared “politicizing the coronavirus” to the investigation into Russian interference and his impeachment.

“Because PUSA’s ad’s central point is deliberately false and misleading, your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements, to serve the public interest, and to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation,” notes a letter signed by Trump campaign special counsel Alex W. Cannon that was sent to stations in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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